Physics Investigatory Project

Name: Uttiya Sangiri

Roll Number:

Class: 12 (Science)

Session: CBSE 2019-2020

 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr. Uttiya Sangiri, a student of class
XII-Science has successfully completed the project on the topic
”PRISM” under my guidance during the year 2019-20 in partial
fulfillment of physics practical examination conducted by CBSE.

Teacher’s signature

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my physics teacher
Mr. Swarup Bhumia and my respected school principal Madam
Nandini Ghosh for their vital support, guidance and encourage-
ment, without which this project would not have come forth.

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Contents

1 Objective 5

2 Introduction 5

3 Apparatus 5

4 Theory 5
4.1 Refraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.2 Causes of refraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.3 Laws of refraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.4 Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.5 Angle of prism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.6 Angle of deviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.7 Angle of minimum deviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.8 Critical angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.9 Refraction through prism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5 Procedure 10

6 Precautions 11

7 Observations and Calculations 11

8 Result 12

9 Bibliography 13

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1 Objective

• To study the variation of the angle of deviation with the angle of

incidence using hollow glass prism and to determine the angle
of minimum devation.
• To find out the refractive index of various liquids using a hollow
prism.

2 Introduction

This project is of investigatory type. In this project, a hollow prism

has been used to calculate the refractive index of various liquids.
The hollow prism is filled with liquid and then the experiment is
performed.

3 Apparatus

• Drawing board
• Hollow glass prism
• Protractor
• Pins
• Sheet of paper
• Graph paper
• Drawing Pins
• Pencil

4 Theory

4.1 Refraction

In a homogenous medium, light travels along a straight line, but

whenever it falls on a surface of another medium, a very small
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fraction of it is reflected back and most of the light passes into the
medium, though with a change of direction. This phenomena of
bending of light at the surface of separation of the two medium is
called refraction of light.

4.2 Causes of refraction

This phenomena of refraction takes place when a beam of light

enters a medium in which light travels with a different velocity.

4.3 Laws of refraction

1. The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal to the surface
at the point of incidence lie on the same plane.
2. For any two given media, the ratio of the sine of the angle
of incidence to the angle of refraction is constant, where ’i’ is the
angle of incidence and ’r’ is the angle of refraction.

4.4 Medium

It is the surrounding substance through which the light travels.

For a monochromatic light, the ratio of the sine of the angle of
incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is constant for any
two given media. If ’i’ is the angle of incidence, and ’r’ is the angle
of refraction, then -
sin(i)
= constant
sin(r)
The constant is called the refractive index. For most purposes
it may be assumed that the refractive index is with respect to air.
When light travels from a rarer to a denser medium, it bends
towards the normal and vice versa. It has been experimentally
shown that -
vA
µ=
vM

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where µ = Refractive index of medium.
vA = Velocity of light in air.
vM = Velocity of light in medium.

4.5 Angle of prism

At transparent medium bounded by two plane surfaces inclined to

each other at an angle is called a prism. The angle between the
two faces is known as the angle of prism.

4.6 Angle of deviation

The angle through which the incident ray of the light is deviated
after refraction is called the angle of deviation. In fact it is the
angle between the emergent ray and the incident ray produced.

4.7 Angle of minimum deviation

As the value of the angle of incidence increases, the angle of devia-

tion decreases, till for a particular value of the angle of incidence, it
attains a minimum value. This minimum value is called the angle
of minimum deviation.

4.8 Critical angle

It is that angle of incidence in the denser medium for which cor-

responding angle of refraction in the rarer medium is 90◦.
i
µ=
sin(C)
where, µ = refractive index
and C = critical angle.

The four parameters on which angle of deviation depends are:

• Angle of prism (A)

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• Material of prism (µ)
• Angle of incidence (i)
• Wavelength or color of light (λ)

4.9 Refraction through prism

When a ray of light passes from one medium into the other, it
either bends towards the normal or away from the normal in the
second medium, depending upon whether the second medium is
denser or rarer with respect to the first medium. This phenomenon
is known as the refraction of light.

For a particular pair of media and for a particular wavelength

of light the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence and the sine
of the angle of refraction is a constant quantity, called the refrac-
tive index of the second medium with respect to the first medium.
It is represented by:
sin(i)
µ=
sin(r)
Therefore the value of the angle of incidence ’i’, the angle of mini-
mum deviation ’m’ and the angle of refraction ’r’ can be obtained
in terms of the refracting angle ’A’ of the prism.

Let ABC represent the principal section of a glass-prism having

6 A as its refracting angle.

A ray KL is incident on the face AB at the point F where N1LO is

the normal and 6 i1 is the angle of incidence. Since the refraction
takes place from air to glass, therefore, the refracted ray LM bends
toward the normal such that 6 r1 is the angle of refraction. If µ be
the refractive index of glass with respect to air then,

sin(i)
µ=
sin(r)
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The refracted ray LM is incident on the face AC at the point M
where N2M O is the normal and 6 r2 is the angle of incidence.
Since the refraction now takes place from denser to rarer medium,
therefore, the emergent ray MN such that 6 i2 is the angle of emer-
gence.
In the absence of the prism, the incident ray KL would have pro-
ceeded straight, but due to refraction through the prism, it changes
its path along the direction PMN. Thus, 6 QP N gives the angle
of deviation ‘δ’, i.e., the angle through which the incident ray gets
deviated in passing through the prism.

Thus, δ = i1 − r1 + i2 − r2
⇒ δ = i1 + i2 − (r1 + r2)
In quadrilateral ALOM;
6 ALO + 6 AM O = 2rt6 s

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⇒ 6 LAM + 6 LOM = 2rt6 s
⇒ 6 r1 + 6 r2 + 6 LOM = 2rt6 s
⇒ 6 LAM = 6 r1 + 6 r2
⇒ A = 6 r1 + 6 r2
⇒ δ = i 1 + i2 − A

A + δ = i 1 + i2
On substituting this result in the Snell’s law, we get:
sin((A + δm)/2)
µ=
sin(A/2)

5 Procedure

• Fix a white sheet of paper on the drawing board with help of

drawing pins.
• Keep the prism and mark the outline of it as ABC.
• Drop a normal PQ on the side AB.
• Draw the angle of incidence in accordance with the normal PQ
and place 2 pins so that they appear to be in the straight line.
• Place the prism filled with given sample of liquid ,on the marked
outline ABC.
• Now take the pins and place them on the side AC so that all the
4 pins appear to be in same line.
• Remove the prism and draw the line joining the points so ob-
tained.
• Mark the diagram as shown in the figure.
• Repeat this with different liquids and different angle of incidence.

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6 Precautions

• A sharp pencil should be used for drawing the boundary of the

prism.
• The separation between the pins should not be less than 8cm.
• The angle of incidence should lie between 30 to 45 degrees.
• The same orientation and prism should be used for all observa-
tions, so an ink mark should be placed on it to distinguish it
as a refracting angle A of the prism.
• The pins should have a sharp tip and fixed vertically and the pin
pricks should be encircled immediately after they are removed.
• Proper arrow should be drawn to indicate the incident ray, the
refracted ray and the emergent rays.
• A smooth curve passing practically through all the plotted points
should be drawn.

7 Observations and Calculations

Benzaldehyde
Sl.no Angle of prism Angle of incidence Angle of deviation
1 60◦ 30◦ 45◦
2 60◦ 35◦ 42◦
3 60◦ 37.5◦ 40◦
4 60◦ 39◦ 42◦
5 60◦ 40◦ 45◦

sin((60+40)/2)
µ= sin(30) = 1.532

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 Water
Sl.no Angle of prism Angle of incidence Angle of deviation
1 60◦ 30◦ 25◦
2 60◦ 35◦ 22◦
3 60◦ 40◦ 20◦
4 60◦ 45◦ 22◦
5 60◦ 50◦ 25◦

sin((60+20)/2)
µ= sin(30) = 1.285

Dilute Sulphuric Acid

Sl.no Angle of prism Angle of incidence Angle of deviation
1 60◦ 20◦ 33◦
2 60◦ 30◦ 30◦
3 60◦ 35◦ 25◦
4 60◦ 40◦ 29◦
5 60◦ 45◦ 30◦

sin((60+25)/2)
µ= sin(30) = 1.351

8 Result

1) The angle of deviation δ first decreases with the increase in

the angle of incidence, attains a minimum value and then increase
with further increase in the angle of incidence.

2) Refractive indices at room temperature:

• Benzaldehyde = 1.532
• Water = 1.285
• Dilute Sulphuric Acid = 1.351

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9 Bibliography

• NCERT PHYSICS PART 1 CLASS 12

• RESNICK HALLIDAY KRANE PHYSICS PART 1
• WWW.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
• NCERT LAB MANUAL PHYSICS CLASS 12

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